Robert Sandilands head furious over pub car park ban

For years, parents have used the car park of The Starting Gate pub to pick up and drop off their children. However, Punch Taverns, which owns the pub, has warned that non-pub customers would be fined £50 for parking there.
The firm says it is not insured for non-customer use of the car park and that allowing parents to park would also be in breach of its lease with West Berkshire Council. However, the school has hit back, accusing it of a lack of goodwill and compromising the safety of its pupils.
A spokesman for Punch Taverns said: “It is worth pointing out that the use of the car park by school parents has also affected the pub business negatively on occasions, with pub patrons unable to use the car park at certain times of the year.”
It added that while it appreciated the concerns of parents, it also had a duty of care to its customers and pub partners.
As a result of the ban, many side roads around the school, have become clogged up with cars. Parents are also worried about the safety of children owing to construction traffic from the nearby redevelopment at Kersey Crescent.
The school’s head, Richard Blofeld, said: “We had a statement from Punch Taverns saying that they were going to deny access to parents parking. We did not respond to it because we were not asked to.
“In the 21 years I have been here the school has benefited from parents being able to use that car park as a drop-off point for just 10 minutes or so in the morning and afternoon. It has never been an issue before. Why can’t Punch Taverns change its insurance to allow my school to use that car park for an hour a day – half-an-hour in the morning and half-an-hour in the evening? I am happy pay to get the conditions of the insurance changed.
“The safety of the children arriving at and departing from my school is paramount. It would be absolutely catastrophic for a child to be seriously injured or worse because of this.”
A spokeswoman for West Berkshire Council, Peta Stoddart-Crompton, said: From my understanding, there has been an informal agreement in place, where Punch Taverns has kindly allowed parents of Robert Sandilands School to use the car par to drop off and pick up their children. Even in their capacity as lease-holder, it would have been up to Punch Taverns, rather then the council as to whether they allowed the car park to be used in this way.”
However, Punch Taverns strongly denied that any formal or informal agreement had ever been made.
Mr Blofeld is also furious that the council has agreed, in principle, to sell the freehold of the site to Punch Taverns.
He said: “At no time whatsoever did Punch Taverns or West Berkshire Council planners consult or communicate with this school about this. Why didn’t the council ask if the school wanted to buy the site? We could have built a new school building to help cope with additional numbers in the future.”

Punch Taverns has suggested that a car park and drop-off zone be built within the school site which would involve the school losing a third of its football pitches.
However, Mr Blofeld described the proposals as “farcical and insulting”.